Thursday, January 30, 2014

As I read this headline- the first thought that comes to mind is ‘wow the US just never gives up” on pushing the ‘terror’ meme!But then it serves them so dam well?Recall I had mentioned so many months back about that changing narrative? From arab spring to fighting terrorIf AQ is in Syria and it want’s to attack the US... does this mean the US with it’s NATO subordinates will just have to intervene?If AQ is in Syria, why is it the US just keeps sending arms that way?Clapper is ‘flapping his lips’ for some reason.

Syrian al-Qaeda-linked groups want to attack the United States and are training a growing cadre of fighters from Europe, the Mideast and even the United States, United States intelligence chief James Clapper warned on Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee that groups such as the al-Nusra Front in Syria have inaugurated training camps “to train people to go back to their countries,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

He described this as “one of the newest threats emerging in the past year to U.S. security.”

He added: “Al-Nusra Front, to name one .... does have aspirations for attacks on the homeland.”

However, Clapper did not elaborate or offer any evidence of al-Nusra’s desire to attack the U.S.

He said the civil war in Syria has become a “huge magnet” for these groups while sub-Saharan Africa has become a “hothouse” for extremists even as al-Qaeda’s core leadership has been steadily weakened in Pakistan.

America’s intelligence agencies estimated that there were about 26,000 fighters deemed to be “extremists” operating in Syria out of a total opposition force of 75,000 to 110,000 from some 50 countries, Clapper said

He said more established groups, like Yemen’s al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, are still more capable of carrying out attacks against the U.S., but described steep growth in numbers of fighters in Syria.Biological weapons

He also offered a warning on advances in Syria’s biological weapons program.

Although Syria has agreed to eliminate its large arsenal of chemical weapons, the regime may now have the ability to produce biological weapons on a limited scale, he said.

“We judge that some elements of Syria’s biological warfare program might have advanced beyond the research and development stage and might be capable of limited agent production, based on the duration of its longstanding program,” the Associated Press quoted Clapper as saying in written testimony.

Clapper offered no further details, but it was the first time an official has publicly stated that spy agencies believed Syria had made strides in its biological program.

Neither President Bashar al-Assad’s regime nor the rebel groups appear able to achieve a decisive victory on the battlefield in the next six months, said Clapper, adding that the war would further foment Sunni-Shiite sectarian tensions across the region.

Extremists gaining access to technologies

Meanwhile, another U.S. official warned of extremist rebels getting access to technologies that could be used against Washington.

“Not only are fighters being drawn to Syria, but so are technologies and techniques that pose particular problems to our defenses,” the Associated Press quoted committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein as saying.

She warned Syria could become “a launching point or way station for terrorists seeking to attack the United States or other nations,” in the annual hearing Wednesday to hear the U.S. intelligence committee’s assessment of worldwide threats.

U.S. intelligence analysts have told the Associated Press that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and his lieutenants are too preoccupied by the constant threat of U.S. drone strikes to plot a major attack against the U.S. similar to Sept. 11.

This has pushed Zawahri to empower various “nodes” of his organization to choose their own, often local targets, though he encourages them to focus on the “far enemy” of the U.S. when they can.

U.S. intelligence officials told the Associated Press that Zawahri so far has not called on the Syrian branches to attack U.S. targets, allowing them to focus on the war against Assad.

Meanwhile, Clapper compared Syria to the semi-autonomous tribal belt in northwest Pakistan, which has served as a sanctuary for the Taliban and members of al-Qaeda.

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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

After months of silence. Carl Campeau is speaking exclusively to the CBC.
The CBC being Canada's premiere propaganda corporation. Much like the BBC. Keeps official narratives in order. Misleads Canadians. Typical stuff

You can read the whole article at your leisure. There is a video included there if you just want the sound bite.

Carl Campeau

I read the article. And find it lacking... the devil is in the details and there are some details I find troublesome So, let me be honest. I do not believe the narrative surrounding the disappearance or escape of Carl Campeau. Was he witting or unwitting? I don’t know. I would think for the narrative to be more effective Mr Campeau would have to be unwitting. On the other hand, who knows?

He was at Golan. And the ‘rebels’ at Golan are intrinsically tied to Israel. A fact that has been covered endlessly here at the blog in any number of posts....

Everything italicized in bold, below, is quoted from the latest CBC article

“Campeau was in Syria as a legal adviser to a UN mission observing the ceasefire between Israel and Syria. He was on his way from the border to Damascus, when he came across what appeared to be a group of six or seven gunmen on the road robbing a family in a car.

“He was on his way from the border”? Vague. What border? Notice that is missing? Since we already know from earlier reporting he had been in Israel before his kidnapping. What border was he on his way from? Was he at the Quneitra Crossing? And if he was kidnapped at that point was he actually in Syria? I wonder why it is the CBC chose to report in this manner. On his way from the border to Damascus....Then this:

“Campeau was kept, occasionally blindfolded, in a cramped room in a villa a short distance from the main road.”

The main road.What main road?The main road at the Golan Crossing?Was he in Israel?

“One morning, he discovered his captors had left his door unlocked. He walked out to find that their weapons were sitting outside his room unattended”

Then one day, as luck would have it, or not? You are certainly supposed to believe this is a mix of luck and bravery? - After holding Campeau for 8 long months- the captors leave his door unlocked and he walks away.. Clearly, the captors released Campeau. After 8 months of locking him up, every day, or so the story goes, to just leave his door unlocked and him unattended tells me he is being released.

“He grabbed a red scarf often worn by locals in the area, put it on his head......

" He grabbed a red scarf worn by the locals" What locals? He claims he was held by rebels the entire timein a villa.Did he beat some random 'local' up and steal a scarf from their head? This doesn't make sense.
What makes more sense is he put a rebel bandana on his head, which he would have had easy access to.
A red one, in this case, ensuring no rebel/mercs would fire at him. I find this claim, grabbing a red scarf worn by locals, problematic and not credible.

The rebels wear very specific colours because they are important identifiers.

The scarf colour significance has been discussed at the blog, previously... But I will link and quote with a picture from two different articles, both addressing the scarf colours as a sort of uniform for the 'rebels'/ hired mercs.

“It was striking for the level of coordination it displayed among numerous units which, lacking uniforms, donned bandannas in bright pinks, reds and oranges to identify their loyalties and reduce the risk of "friendly fire".

He holds his gun behind his neck. The red bandana on his head to signify to others what brigade he’s in. His jacket stuffed with bullet magazines and homemade grenades. He’s 18 years old and claims like many of the FSA fighters to be on Jihad.

The bandannas are rebel/merc uniform. The can identify one another with the colours and reduce their chances of being shot. Therefore when Mr Campeau donned the rebel colour of red, he would have been identified as a friendly to all the other rebels. Reducing his chance of being killed greatly. That all said, no one should believe for one minute the nonsense about this being a bandanna worn by the 'locals' in Syria

Campeau’s story continues

...... and started a dangerous walk through the fields, hiding in irrigation channels, until he found the Syrian army”“That took three hours, he said. It took many more hours for him to feel safe — he was first interrogated by army officials before they handed him over to the foreign ministry”

After he walked away from the villa, that could have been located in Israel for all we really know, he walked for 3 hours..... through fields, hiding in irrigation ditches.

Recall Carl Campeau had been in Israel, but, allegedly on his way to Damascus
Keep in mind the story of his kidnapping is his alone. We have him in a villa. Near the main road of a border crossing. Now he has escaped. Walking away from the villa where he was held in captivity, locked up daily for eight months... He dons a red bandana- worn by the merc/rebels to identify one another and he walks for 3 hours through fields and irrigation ditches.

-Was Carl Campeau really held in Syria? -Or was he held in Israel?
-Was ransom paid for Carl Campeau? Ransom that would allow for the purchase of weapons on the black market but allow the payee to remain hidden.
-Why did Carl Campeau claim the red bandanna was one worn by locals? That seems highly misleading?
Or perhaps he believed this? I don't know?
-Is Carl Campeau witting or unwitting? I guess we will never really know. But, I will end this post as it began
I simply do not believe the narrative as put forth. But, have no doubt this is going to be the official state sanctioned narrative.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

When the hand you hold is a loser. The holocaust card can always be played.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has called on Russia
to use its influence with the Syrian regime to help get humanitarian aid
to the besieged city of Homs.
Tense negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition
entered their fifth day Tuesday, focusing on the transfer of power
and helping besieged parts of Homs.
The emphasis on Homs and release of detainees are meant as
confidence-building measures. A tentative agreement was reached
in Geneva over the weekend for the evacuation of women and children
trapped in Homs before aid convoys go in. Central Homs has been under
siege for nearly two years.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, in a speech during
international Holocaust commemoration day on Monday, said that just as
Russian soldiers liberated Auschwitz in 1945, "the world again needs
Russia to use its influence, this time to ensure that food reaches
the desperate and starving people imprisoned in besieged Homs, Yarmouk,
the Damascus suburbs and elsewhere."

"The horrors of the Holocaust have no parallel but the world
continues to confront crimes that shock the conscience," Power said
during an event where film director Steven Spielberg gave a keynote
address and a survivor of the Nazi genocide also spoke. "In October,
the Security Council spoke with a united voice about the need for action
to address the humanitarian devastation in Syria. There are people who
are imprisoned in their own neighborhoods." "They need food desperately and yet food cannot reach them because the regime will not allow it."

Oh, I can think of plenty of parallels, but, let's pretend the Holocaust (TM) is the only one that counts.
So valued for so many reasons:
Crushing free speech
Playing the victim card
Guilt
And let's not forget- Used to traumatize young Israeli's- I saved this one knowing the time would be right to use it! 'Holocaust journeys' can cause mental health problems

Think of the value in traumatizing the populace. Fear and trauma allows for mass manipulation and ease of controlBack to the invocation of the high holy holocaust meme

Russia's mission to the UN criticized Power for bringing the Holocaust into the Syria issue."We regard such analogies as entirely inappropriate," said Alexei Zaitsev, a spokesman for the mission, in an e-mail.

And these are inappropriate analogies. But, Samantha Power has always shown herself to be willing to stoop to the way down low level.
Sick. Considering the US and Israeli involvement in the ruin of Syria. Absolutely sick!

Transcript below

Hello. This is John
Robles, I'm speaking to Voice of Russia regular contributor Mr. Rick
Rozoff, the owner and manager of the Stop NATO website and international
mailing list

Robles:Hello Rick. I hope you had some happy holidays. How are you this evening?

Rozoff:I'm doing very good, John. Thanks again for having me on your show.

Robles:Thanks
a lot. I was wondering if we can get your views on what is going on in
Maidan or Independence Square in Ukraine. It seems like the level of
violence is escalating with … looks like no endin sight, I don't know.
What do you think?

Rozoff:No,
you are absolutely correct. Ukraine has become, you know, the center of
attention I think globally right now, you know the sinecure. People are
focused on it with good reason in a way it’s replaced Syria as the, how
would I put it, proxy conflict between the East and West with the West
once again on the offensive. That is in anattempt to do something,
nothing short of toppling an elected government of a nation that has
close state-to-state relationships with Russia.

And what
is happening is fluid of course, but it is also tense and it is also
fraught with not only dangerous but potentially catastrophic
consequences if the violence that exists in Kiev in and around
Independence Square and now by recent reports spreading into parts of
Western Ukraine where the hotbeds of nationalist and even fascistic
extremism are.

So I think what you are seeing is
well-coordinated series of activities that began in Kiev and may very
well spread to the Western part of Ukraine.

Robles:I
see. What are your views on who is behind all this, and the reasons for
it? Now at first they came up with that there was the EU integration,
then they were protesting the government, and then they were calling for
early elections, then they were protesting against Russia.

Now
one of the objects of the protesters' actions is something about some
students that were beat several weeks ago. It just seems like they are
finding any reason whatsoever to keep escalating and continuing their
violence.

During
the night there were negotiations and the opposition said they had
agreed to the conditions set by the government to stop their violent
activities, and then they went out and announced this to their
supporters. Their supporters weren’t happy about it and they went back
on their word, they said: 'No, we are not going to agree to any cease in
our violence'.

And
they are continuing with their violence which, they’re throwing Molotov
cocktails at Police. All of the Police and the security forces they are
suffering severe burns and the violence against the police is
escalating.

And
of we look at who the leaders are, it brings a lot of questions to my
mind – as who is actually running all of this? I mean they’ve got this
ex-boxer, he is promoting all this violence.

Can
you give us some comments on him and on the resolution by the Russian
State Duma yesterday, if you could, regarding the violence?

Rozoff:Yes,
the opposition, and again we have to keep in mind in a fluid situation
like this, and what we are looking at is really not only destabilization
but ultimately a regime change technique or scenario. But what we see
is the boxer, you know the heavy weight boxer Vitali Klichko, and two
other nationalists emerging as what is a typical color revolution
scenario where there is a triumvirate or triad of political leaders.

This
was true by the way during the Orange Revolution, so called, in 2004
and 2005. We had Viktor Yanukovich (Yushchenko?), Yulia Tymoshenko and
Alexander Moroz as being the triumvirate, modeled after that in Georgia
incidentally the preceding year in 2003.

So, the
question is begged of course, about whether the public or nominal
leadership is really anything more than figureheads, or are anything
more than figureheads, and whether in fact there is not something more
substantive behind it both internally and of course externally.

So
what we are looking at is a degree of violence against police officers
that would not be tolerated in any other European country, I can assure
you, certainly not in the West. But being cheered on and supported
unequivocally by western political leaders in the European Union, in the
United States, in NATO I might add.

Yesterday
Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Anders Fogh
Rasmussen said: 'Violence can never be used for political means'. You
know, a lightening bolt should come from the Heavens and strike anyone
making a statement like that when they’re the Head of NATO which has
used violence for political means uninterruptedly since 1995 in several
countries on three continents.

Robles:Well that’s their only tactic. How could you say that?

Rozoff:But
of course. But I mean, there is a difference between official use of
force by a government to maintain peace in a country, where there could
be abuses. There could be excessive use of that force, but at least it
is legally sanction, as opposed to people who are a little bit better
than gangsters at times hitting Police officers with hammers or throwing
petrol bombs at them.

You don't see much of it here in
the West but luckily with the Internet we can see a television
broadcast around the world. And we've seen the horrifying pictures of
the results of the use of so called Molotov cocktails in Kiev. Seeing
your young Police officers' heads and arms are on fire and so forth and
you can only imagine the degree of, third degree I'm sure, of burns that
they suffer as a result of gasoline bombs.

But I think rather than focusing on the mechanics of what is going on, which will be debated ad nauseam
in the Western press of course, what is important, to again come back
to you, and you and I have had occasion to talk about this before, John,
is the regional and ultimately the global context within which the
battle for Ukraine, and I would term it exactly that 'the battle for
Ukraine' is occurring.

One factor which is very
significant but didnot receive the attention it certainly warranted was
in the middle of last month, the middle of December, now former US
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, he had served in the US House of
Representatives for 8 terms, for 16 years. He is a native of my home
state of Ohio incidentally, wrote a very revealing article stating that
the so called European Union Association Agreement with – an initiative
rather - with Ukraine was simply NATO's Trojan Horse in Ukraine.

This
is precisely how former Congressman Kucinich put it. And what he did
indicate and he shows a fairly good degree of familiarity with all these
things are done that Ukraine would first to join NATO and then join the
European Union because traditionally that is how it has occurred, you
know, with the newer members, with the exception of tiny island nations
of Cyprus and Malta.

So that what we are looking at is
Ukraine is a geo-strategically pivotal nation, it clearly is that nation
that separates what geo politicians or strategists would talk about
from East to the West. It borders of course Poland and other nations
that are now considered to be in Central Europe for that matter and
Russia to its East which of course is in Eastern Europe and even in
Eurasia. I mean, in fact, the greater part of Russia being in Asia
itself.

What we are seeing is something almost
evocative of formal struggles and there is a history of Ukraine being
pivotal in that sense. Many of your listeners maybe acquainted either
with the 19th century novel TarasBulba, by the Russian novelist Nikolai
Gogol, who is from Ukraine or the movie adaptation at the end of the
last century, more people might know.

It is a fact that
Ukraine is a bone of contention between the westernized Slavic part of
Europe, if you will, you know, those who with the Latin alphabet and the
Roman-Catholic religion and those with the Cyrillic alphabet and the
Orthodox religion which Ukraine for the most part is. And that we've
seen similar situations after World War 1, during the World War 2.

In
World War 1 Germany, in the first instance, tried to wean Ukraine away
from Russia; in World War 2Stepan Bandera and other Nazi collaborators,
who were heroes incidentally to the modern nationalists in Ukraine, who
under the Yushchenko government rehabilitated, members of the Ukrainian
insurgent army and others who had collaborated with the Nazi Germany.

So
we are looking at very extremist elements, probably the most visible
and prominent of the so called Youth Activist or members of the so
called Svoboda or Freedom Party, which up until a few years ago had as
its logo a variant of a Nazi swastika. Well let's be very clear about
what we are dealing with. There are may be any number of innocent youth
who want, going out for a dare, much as Orange Revolution in 2004-2005,
but behind it there are some very hardcore nationalists, and
Russo-phobic extremists, who whether be known to themselves or not, are
serving the purpose of turning yet another country into a battle zone in
a renewed post-Cold War East-West conflict.

Robles:Can
you give us your views on the statement by the Crimean Parliament and
by the Russian Duma yesterday? The Russian Duma is calling for foreign
actors, foreign players -we know who we are talking about: the West, the
US - to refrain from interfering in Ukraine.

The
Crimean Parliament, they adopted a statement with a vote of 78-81
deputies in favor of it. The statement reads: 'The political crisis, the
formal pretext for which was a pause in Ukraine's European integration
has developed into armed resistance and street fights. Hundreds of
people have been hurt and, unfortunately, some people have been killed.
The price for the power ambitions of a bunch of political saboteurs -
Klichko, Yatsenyuk and Tyagnibok- is too high. They have crossed the
line by provoking bloodshed using the interests of the people of Ukraine
as cover and pretending to act on their own behalf.'

And
they finish up by saying:' The people of Crimea will never engage in
illegitimate elections, will never recognize their results. And will not
live in Bandera Ukraine.'- they say. So, can you comment on that and on
the Russian resolution, if you would?

Rozoff:First
of all I want to commend you, as of I think yesterday or perhaps today,
of compiling a list of I think significant statements by the Russian
State Duma, the Duma or the Parliament in Crimea and others and putting
them into a very condensed form that has been very useful to me.

A
couple of things: the trio of opposition figures is exactly the
triumvirate I alluded to earlier with Vitali Klichko playing what could
only be described as a sort of Rocky Balboa meets Rambo, Sylvester
Stallone compilation of pseudo populist, right wing, dangerous, and
ultimately violent sort of activity.

The Bandera
allusion we've talked about earlier, he was a leader during World War 2
of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and fought against the legitimate
political authorities and what was then Nazi occupied Soviet Union, but
often times in conjunction with the Third Reich with the Nazis. So they
are using the same language you and I had used.

*Now,
what we are talking about here in Crimea is of the upmost importance.
The US has for several years now been waging in conjunction with its
NATO allies, annual fairly large scale naval war games called Sea
Breeze, and they are conducted in the Crimea dangerously close to where
the Russian Black Sea fleet is stationed at Sevastopol. And even though a
public outcry led to, or resulted in,a Sea Breeze exercise I think
three years ago, perhaps four, being called off, they had been resumed
and what has happened over the last two or three years,this is very
significant, and I hope your listeners pick up on this – the US as a
matter of course has been sending missile cruisers into the Black Sea to
go to Crimea, to dock there.

These are what are called
the Ticonderoga-class guided - missile cruisers, of the sort that are
part of the US international missile, so called missile shield, that is
they are to be equipped with Standard Missile-3 interceptor missiles,
and these ships are visiting Ukraine on a regular basis.

As
the US continues its military takeover of the Black Sea, they've
already done this with Bulgaria and Rumania, where they've acquired 8
major military basses in those two countries. Turkey of course is a NATO
ally and Ukraine then becomes a very significant factor in the US
military takeover of the Black Sea largely through NATO expansion. But
what is even I think of more concern – a WikiLeaks document of in the
last couple of years, revealed that in 2006 the then Head of the US
Missile Defense Agency, he’s now retired, General Henry (or “Trey”)
Obering met with Ukrainian officials, this was during the Yushchenko
agreement, to recruit Ukraine into the European missile shield.

And
in the subsequent year,2007, General Obering headed the Missile Defense
Agency visit to Ukraine during the Yushchenko years, their
Administration's years, and met with the Defense Minister and other key
officials in Ukraine in an effort to bring Ukraine into that. If Ukraine
were to join along with Poland, Romania, Turkey and other countries,
the beginning stages of the so called European Phased Adaptive Approach
for the interceptor missile system, this would be extremely dangerous.
This would be such an open provocation to Russia, that I don't see how
Russia could not take some fairly dramatic action in response to it.

So
when we talk about the factors that are involved we have to keep
several significant ones in mind. First of all Ukraine is strategically
vital, it is indispensable. In the energy wars that the US and its
European Union allies,we should say NATO allies, have been waging over
the past decade to try to curtail Russian exports of natural gas and oil
to Europe, ultimately perhaps to cut them off altogether in favor of
natural gas and oil projects bringing Caspian Sea energy into Europe via
the Caucasus, Azerbaijan and Georgia, but of course from there to
Ukraine, from Ukraine into the Western Europe. So Ukraine is significant
in that sense.

Ukraine is also one of four countries
that NATO has announced, four non-NATO countries that are to join the
NATO Response Force that is the international strike force that NATO has
developed. The other three are Georgia, Finland and Sweden. Of course
three of those four countries, all except Sweden, have lengthy borders
with Russia. And that Ukraine has been gradually, I think unbeknownst to
most people in Ukraine, and certainly outside, has been dragged into
the NATO net deeper and deeper and deeper.

Ukraine is,
and these are significant facts, so I hope you don't mind my emphasizing
them. Ukraine’s second to that became the first,and to date only,
non-NATO country to supply a naval vessel to what is now NATO's
permanent surveillance and interdiction naval operation in the
Mediterranean Sea - Operation Active Endeavor. Ukraine’s second to that
became the first, and to date only, non-NATO country to supply a ship to
NATO's Arabian Sea -Operation Ocean Shield. Ukraine, during the Kuchma
government, supplied 2,000 troops to the United States, NATO inIraq,
they have a small contingent of troops serving under NATO's
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

KIEV, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Ukraine is borrowing another $2 billion from Russia on the same terms as a $3 billion Eurobond sold in December, in a sign that Moscow is pushing on with a $15 billion bailout despite concern about violence at anti-government protests in Kiev.

Perhaps Russia is not as concerned as some of us might think?

In a geopolitical battle with the European Union after Ukraine spurned a trade pact with the 28-state bloc, Russia agreed on credits and cheaper gas for Kiev in December to help its fellow former Soviet republic meet huge debt payments.

The Ukrainian government said in a statement on Monday it was issuing $2 billion in Eurobonds to Russia on the same terms as in December, bringing the total amount borrowed - over two years at an interest rate of 5 percent - to $5 billion.

Financial analysts said the statement sought to signal that all is well with the bailout, intended to help Kiev cover external debt repayments of $8 billion this year and boost depleted central bank reserves.

"This is a kind of verbal intervention to partially or completely calm people," said Oleksandr Valchishen of InvestCapital Ukraine, "to appease business and people who could move a lot of money, put pressure on the hryvnia."

Olena Belan, of Dragon Capital, said: "Russia is continuing to support Ukraine because this was the agreement."

In Moscow, the Kremlin and Finance Ministry did not immediately comment. But, signalling Russia is not having second thoughts about the bailout, a government source said: "The help will be extended."

Another government official said, however, it was not clear when Moscow would make the purchase of the further $2 billion.

Underlining that the bailout is as much as political decision as a financial move, the source said: "It's not the Finance Ministry's decision. It is the Kremlin's decision."

"BROTHERLY LOVE"

President Vladimir Putin said in December the bailout was an act of brotherly love for Russia's fellow Slavs in Ukraine. He denied it was a way to keep Ukraine out of the EU's clutches in a tug-of-war over the country of 46 million which is a large trading market and is rich in mineral resources.

Russia regards Ukraine as part of its traditional sphere of influence and the deal was widely seen in Moscow as a victory for Putin that kept Kiev in its orbit.

Since then at least six people have been killed in clashes, according to the prosecutor's office and medics, and the crisis has deepened tension between Russia and the West.

Uncertainty about the fate of the Ukrainian government has mounted because Yanukovich has offered important posts to the opposition, including the role of prime minister.

The thought of the opposition joining the government in Kiev is alarming for Russia because its leaders say they would "take the country into the European Union".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed concern last week that the situation in Kiev was spinning out of control and warned European governments not to meddle in Ukraine.

Russian business daily Vedomosti quoted an unnamed Russian official as saying Moscow would "review the situation" if the political risks in Ukraine grew.

But Putin has said nothing in public of the violence - Russia's options are limited and Vedomosti's source said there had been no discussion of halting credits to Kiev.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda last week that Moscow was watching events closely and sometimes with pain but added: "Interfering in (Ukraine's) internal affairs is for us unacceptable."

A presidential aide, Yuri Ushakov, said contacts with the Ukrainian government were continuing at the top level but declined to give details.

Isn't it energy politics that factors into every destabilization/revolution/overthrow/whatever?
Denial of energy. Access to energy. Controlling the energy. Controlling the means of transport?
I am hard pressed to think of anything unrelated to energy politics. You?

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Ukrainian counterpart
Viktor Yanukovych attend a ceremony celebrating Navy Day in Sevastopol
on July 28, 2013

Ukraine’s revolution is fueled by international energy politics. The revolution that has engulfed the country resulted mainly from opposition to President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to develop closer economic relations with Russia. The two countries have a unique relationship as their respective populations share a similar language, ethnicity, history and of course, a national border. However, the two countries share something much more meaningful in today’s global world: complex energy relations.

Russia is currently the world’s second largest exporter of natural gas.A large portion of its hydrocarbons are imported by Western Europe, which is heavily dependent on the pipelines that traverse Ukraine.Governments of Western Europe for years have tried unsuccessfully to lessen their dependence on Russia’s state owned Gazprom. The pipeline infrastructure established in the region is largely a result of Soviet era industrial planning, meaning that the oil and natural gas of countries such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan gets shipped directly through Russia when being sent to European customers. Gazprom for its part charges fluctuating transport fees.

When Yanukovich was deciding whether or not to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union, Russia threatened to raise the prices of its energy exports to Ukraine. Ukraine, already reliant on Russian energy, was even more so inclined to accept a Russian deal because of the approaching winter. What resulted in December was Gazprom agreeing to sell natural gas to Ukraine’s Naftogaz for $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters instead of at the original price of roughly $400 per 1,000 cubic meters. Russia also handed Ukraine a $15 billion bail out package, with Yanukovich agreeing to use some of the funds to buy Russian hydrocarbons.

This is why Ukraine’s revolution is fueled by international energy politics. The European Union has thrown its support behind the opposition, largely in hopes that a change in leadership will allow Ukraine to remove itself from Russia’s sphere of influence. A pro-Western Ukraine will allow the European Union more power when bargaining with Gazprom over prices. Remember,the European Union currently does not buy oil or gas from Iran due to international sanctions. That being the case, Western Europe’s economy has become further subject to Gazprom’s dominance.

Something that has been discussed here previously. ht Gallier2. The EU and the sanctioning of Iran has seen the EU cut of it's nose to spite it's own face. But then the EU policy comes straight out of Washington, so what can be expected?

Russia, for its part, wants to maintain the status-quo. Following the economic disaster that plagued the country following the collapse of the Soviet Union, hydrocarbon exports have become essential to Russia’s economy. Russian politicians have made known their support for Yanukovich’s government fearing that unrest in Ukraine would be bad for business. Gazprom suffered a 10.5 percent decrease in profits in 2013’s financial third quarter. Although the company did not publically disclose reasons behind the loss, it can be inferred that it was due at least in part to Ukraine’s cutback in purchases and its debt of $2.7 billion to Gazprom.

That is a possible reason Russia offered Ukraine a deal it could simply not refuse. Cheaper energy costs would benefit Ukraine’s already struggling economy and Ukraine’s compliance would allow Gazprom to maintain its control on European markets. However, the people of Ukraine were not pleased with what was perceived as Russian bullying. Yanukovich’s agreement with Russia sparked protests that have since turned into the Ukrainian revolution. It is therefore ironic that protesters using Molotov cocktails against police most likely rely on Russian gas.

And the EU leadership is so stupid, so subservient to Washington it will gleefully make life difficult for Europeans as well as Ukrainians.

Europe has given its support to the opposition not so much because it views police crackdowns and anti-protests laws as contradictory to human rights, but rather because this is an opportunity to change the geo-political balance of power. Ukraine’s revolution belongs to the people, but is fueled by these international energy politics. As Russia and the European Union compete for power, Ukraine will continue to be ground zero.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

I want, at this time, to remind readers here of the G20 protests in Toronto, Canada.
I want to remind readers how our government in Canada really supports the rights of peaceful protestors.
I want to ask Canadians and Americans why it is our governments always put down peaceful protests with such violence? And why our police forces resort to using provocateurs in amongst the crowds to justify the heavy handed, ultra violent responses.

Notice how very militant the Ukrainian protestors appear. Armed. Dressed in camouflage clothing.
Destroying vast swathes of property. Laying siege to buildings.
Check the image from previous post? 'Opposition' says NO to power share in Ukraine- Coup in process
Our Western governments are not supporting protests. They never do. Canada doesn't. The US doesn't.
Our governments are clearly supporting a coup/destabilization attempt. And a very violent one at that.

In a striking concession ( huge concession) aimed at defusing Ukraine’s civil uprising and preserving his own grip on power, President Viktor F. Yanukovych on Saturday offered to install opposition leaders in top posts in a reshaped government, but they swiftly rebuffed the offer.

Ever hear of such a thing? A government under siege from destabilizing forces offering a power share?
In the West we have despicable governments. And if protests occur they are crushed. Harshly.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada during G20- The police for the elites were cracking skulls and kettling.
They were abusing and molesting on a massive scale. And the protests were actual protests. Not attempted overthrows.

With
mass protests spreading across the country, Mr. Yanukovych proposed one
opposition figure, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, as prime minister and another,
the former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, as vice prime minister for
humanitarian affairs. Mr. Yatsenyuk is a leader of Fatherland, the
party of Mr. Yanukovych’s archrival, the jailed former prime minister,
Yulia V. Tymoshenko.

“No
deal,” Mr. Yatsenyuk wrote on Twitter, addressing Mr. Yanukovych as
thousands of angry protesters streamed to the still-occupied
Independence Square, undeterred by the biting cold. “We’re finishing
what we started,” he added. “The people decide our leaders, not you.”

Mr Yatsenyuk- What people are deciding the leadership? EU and US leaders?
Certainly not Ukrainians? Do Ukrainians really want to be led by a bunch of destroyers?

In a speech from the stage on the square, and in a news conference
afterward, Mr. Yatsenyuk expressed more flexibility, but insisted that
the embattled president was no longer in a position to dictate the terms
of a deal. “We have our conditions,” he said, “not your conditions.”

Mr Yatsenyuk is stringing the gullible masses along. Power sharing was the best opportunity, immediately available, to shape the future of the nation. He rejected it.

In
a further complication, some of the most aggressive demonstrators are
supporters of the nationalist Svoboda Party and its leader, Oleg
Tyagnibok, who took part in the talks with Mr. Yanukovych but was not
offered a position.

Mr.
Klitschko, who leads a party called the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance
for Reform, said that protesters would remain on the streets as
negotiations continued.

Mr.
Yanukovych’s willingness to remove Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who
has been his staunch ally through the more than two-month-long civic
uprising, underscored just how much pressure he has been facing to
contain the crisis.

His
offer came as protests continued to spread across the country on
Saturday, with efforts to occupy or blockade government buildings
underway in at least a dozen cities besides Kiev. In recent days, it has
become increasingly clear that the elite Berkut riot police and other
Interior Ministry troops are outnumbered and would face enormous
challenges if asked to enforce a state of emergency.

Late Friday night, a fragile truce had disintegrated in Kiev and the city again was convulsed in violence.

In
a move that suggested that his offers were more than theatrics aimed at
dividing the opposition, Mr. Yanukovych also said he would be willing
to roll back constitutional changes made at his direction that broadly
expanded the powers of the presidency earlier in his term.

He
also agreed to make changes to a package of new laws that severely
suppress political dissent, including freedoms of speech and assembly,
which Mr. Yanukovych’s backers rammed through Parliament on Jan. 16. And
he reiterated his offer to free all detained protesters who have not
been charged with serious crimes.

At
his news conference late Saturday, Mr. Yatsenyuk said talks with Mr.
Yanukovych would continue. “We do not reject the offer,” he said, “but
we do not accept it.”

The
concessions were announced in a statement on the presidential website
on Saturday after a negotiation session lasting more than three hours.
The leadership changes were offered in a portion of the statement
attributed to the minister of justice, Olena Lukash, who took part in
the talks.

Ms.
Lukash said that Mr. Yanukovych had also agreed to engage in a public
debate with Mr. Klitschko, who has said he plans to challenge Mr.
Yanukovych in the presidential election next year.

Mr.
Yanukovych’s offer also called for reshaping the Central Election
Commission to give opposition parties more influence — a step that is
seen as important to preventing election fraud, which has been a
persistent problem in Ukrainian balloting.

Still,
there seemed to be some strategizing in Mr. Yanukovych’s proposal, by
offering the prime minister post to Mr. Yatsenyuk, rather than to Mr.
Klitschko, who is more popular in public opinion polls and is likely to
pose a sharper challenge in next year’s presidential campaign.

Even
before the three opposition leaders could return to Independence Square
from the talks at the presidential headquarters, violence flared in the
main conflict zone, near the Dynamo soccer stadium. Tires were once
again set ablaze on the street, and protesters clashed with special
police units inside Ukraine House, a public conference center nearby.

Before
offering the concessions, Mr. Yanukovych was pressed by two of the
nation’s wealthiest men, the so-called oligarchs who control Ukraine’s
industry and economy and also wield influence in Parliament. Both men
warned, in separate statements, that Ukraine was in danger of
splintering.

System
Capital Management, a conglomerate owned by Ukraine’s richest man,
Rinat Akhmetov, regarded as a close ally of Mr. Yanukovych, issued a
statement lamenting the loss of life in recent days and offering
condolences.

“Business
cannot keep silent when people are killed; a real danger of breakup of
the country emerges; when a political crisis can lead to a deep economic
recession and thus inevitably result in lower standards of living,” the
statement said. “It is only by peaceful action that the political
crisis can be resolved. Any use of force and weapons is unacceptable.”

Another
billionaire, Petro Poroshenko, a member of Parliament who is viewed as a
potential future presidential candidate, issued a statement calling on
lawmakers loyal to Mr. Yanukovych to join with opposition leaders to
reach a compromise.

“Ukraine
has never faced such a big threat,” Mr. Poroshenko said. “It’s no
longer a political crisis. It’s a crisis of statehood. In danger are the
lives of our fellow citizens, civil peace and territorial integrity.”

“Anyone
who fails to see it or denies it,” he added, “is either blind or a
provocateur.” Mr. Poroshenko later appeared on the stage with the
opposition leaders in Independence Square.

Protesters
gathered in the freezing cold made no secret of their displeasure with
Mr. Yanukovych’s offer and their lack of trust in politicians, even
those who have been leading the protest effort, like Mr. Yatsenyuk.

“If
he accepts this offer, he will be a betrayer,” said Volodymyr,
declining to give his last name, an unemployed economist from the
western city of Ivan-Frankivsk, who was wearing a helmet and respirator,
common among those who have been at the center of clashes with the
police. “If they accept it, they will all be political corpses,” he
said, Before word came of Mr. Yanukovych’s concessions, opposition
leaders had been bracing for a declaration of a state of emergency,
which they warned would only lead to further bloodshed.

Saturday
also brought news that a protester injured during battles with the
police had died in a Kiev hospital, raising the confirmed death toll to
four.

After
Mr. Yanukovych backed away from the political and free trade agreements
with Europe, he turned to Russia, which agreed to provide $15 billion
in loans and discounts on natural gas to stave off an economic collapse
that some experts warned was imminent. With its money on the line,
Russia has also expressed consternation about the spreading protests.

On
Saturday, mass demonstrations and sieges of public buildings spread to
at least three more cities, with thousands of protesters occupying the
regional administration building in Vinnytsia, a city in central Ukraine
about 90 miles from the border with Moldova. Demonstrators also blocked
a government building in Chernihiv, north of Kiev, near the border with
Belarus, and held a large rally in Poltava, about 200 miles southeast
of Kiev.

Those
actions, combined with the violence in the capital, drew pleas — both
domestically and from abroad — for calm and for a peaceful solution.

Adrian
Karatnycky, an expert on Ukraine at the Atlantic Council of the United
States, a research group, said that the opposition leaders would almost
certainly want guarantees of changes to the Constitution before agreeing
to any deal.

“This
is a first offer from Yanukovych, a sign he has blinked,” Mr.
Karatnycky said. “The concessions Yanukovych has made are signs that his
base wants to sue for peace. But the offer is not enough, as there is
no trust in him.”

Yanukovych should see the light right about now. He will never cede enough to these provocateurs.
He has been more then reasonable. What will he do next? What should he do next?

Friday, January 24, 2014

Cue the peaceful protests that were not peaceful Up the violence Make demands that can never be metUp the violenceMake more insane irrational demands And always continue escalatingIn a no holds barred/no win situtationFirst up-Klitschko- Situation could get out of control

I am going to highlight the interesting bits in three articles. Ready?

DW: How can further violence be stopped?

Vitali Klitschko: I will do everything I can to stop the bloodshed.(Not) But the people are not happy with the results of negotiations that we opposition leaders had with President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday (23.01.2014). They expected more. Unfortunately, Yanukovych is showing no desire to compromise with the people. A month ago the resignation of Interior Minister Vitali Zakharchenko might have been enough. A few weeks ago the resignation of the government might have been enough. Now the people want Yanukovych to step down.

Yanukokych is showing no desire to compromise with the people?
The people are not happy and want Yanukovych to step down.
Excuse me? Who is showing no desire to compromise? Who is making extreme violent demands on a fairly elected leader? (And believe me the US kept a watchful eye on that one) And would that not be equal to the US definition of terrorism?

VK continues: On Hrushevsky Street, one of the most dangerous centers of the conflict, I appealed to people for a period of calm. They listened to me and I am thankful to them for that. It was a gesture of goodwill and readiness to cooperate. But when we returned from the negotiation and I explained the results to them, I heard whistles of discontent. They were not directed at me but at the authorities and their refusal to engage in finding a solution to the conflict.

But the resolution demanded is for Yanukovych to step down... How is this a realistic resolution?
Obviously, It isn’t. This is regime change.

DW: How can Europe help?

VK: Europe has major leverage over Yanukovych and the people around him who keep their money in the European Union.( sanctions, deny access to funds etc., Sanction of course always hurt the people, so the protestors are demanding that the EU harm the Ukranian people even more) We very much hope that our combined efforts will solve the growing conflict. It's already getting out of control, but there is still an opportunity to solve it peacefully without using the security forces. We have to take advantage of every opportunity. I told Yanukovych during the negotiations that this is his personal responsibility. His suggestions are not enough to get people to leave the streets and go home. He did not respond and we can see how the situation is escalating.

"Our combined efforts" clearly means the violent protestors and heavy sanctioning from the West- can it get more obvious that these protests have been staged, planned and worse from the get go. They weren't peaceful and there is nothing organic about them.

DW: For weeks you have called on the West to enact sanctions against the Ukrainian leadership. So far the EU has refused. Are you disappointed?

VK: I have made appeals to many politicians and will continue to do so. I talk to statesmen from other countries. We need help, pressure, contacts: anything to convince Yanukovych that the solution to this conflict is in his hands. At the same time, I fear that the situation will keep escalating until one day, it spins completely out of control

The opposition, that came out of nowhere. Off the streets, people power and all that nonsense ask for the West to sanction the Ukraine and lo and behold..

Now notice it was not the EU that took the lead. Not until the US gave it’s blessing. Looks as if that is about th happen

From a WSJ article that is so absurd it would, it could, be a humour piece.. If it wasn’t so dam serious
So, I am only going to post the most important info.

On Thursday, Joe Biden finally called the Ukrainian president "to urge an immediate de-escalation in the standoff . . . and to meaningfully address the legitimate concerns of peaceful protesters." That's good, but what took so long? The Veep should have called last week when the Ukrainian parliament passed the inflammatory laws.

After the first deaths of protestors in Ukraine's modern history this week, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev on Wednesday revoked the visas of officials linked to the violence. No names were specified. Washington has promised to "consider" other sanctions, and State and Treasury have debated the names of Ukraine officials and business oligarchs who could be put on a list for a visa ban and U.S. asset freeze.

Now's the time to act. Targeted travel and financial sanctions can be imposed by executive order, and the Administration can urge the EU and its member states to do the same. Little scares Ukrainian elites as much as losing access to their London flats or Cypriot bank accounts.

The Obama Administration has largely ignored Europe during its tenure, (ABSURD) but the strategic reality is that only Washington can lead an effort to pull Ukraine out of Moscow's orbit. The EU is divided and irresolute. Worrying parallels to Europe's mishandling of the Balkans in the early 1990s aren't far-fetched. Now as then the EU doesn't seem to realize what's at stake in preventing a violent crisis in its neighborhood. The bulk of Europe's energy supplies come through Ukraine, and pipelines crisscross the western regions with local governments that on Thursday fell to anti-Yanukovych demonstrators.

REGIONS WITH PIPELINES THAT CRISSCROSS THEM, TRANSPORTING ENERGY TO EUROPE FELL TO THE OPPOSITION FORCES... does that feel like war to you? Doesn't sound like peaceful protesting. Cause, it isn't. It's war
Can that be a coincidence? Not a way in hell! Unless you are a complete coincidence theorist?! I am not.

Now let's talk about those peaceful protests and how heavily armed these pro-west mercs, likely special forces, paid provocateurs and other assorted riff raff in amongst gullible persons.Ukrainian Policeman Shot Dead as Foreign Mediation Urged
The cop killed was a head shot, clearly targeted to up the ante.

A Ukrainian policeman was shot dead in the capital as violence resumed after the premier and the opposition called for foreign mediation to stem the unrest.

A 27-year-old police officer was found shortly before midnight in Kiev with a gunshot would to the head, the Interior Ministry said on its website. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said yesterday that he’s speaking to Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, while opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urged an international presence at talks that have so far failed to quell the anti-government protests.

The head shot is a clear provocation.

Opposition politicians have been frustrated in their demands for snap elections.

An obvious coup plot

“The situation in Ukraine is very explosive,” billionaire ex-Economy Minister Petro Poroshenko, who backs the protest movement, said yesterday from Davos, Switzerland. “If the government behaves as if nothing is happening in the country, it will considerably complicate the search for a way out.”

Clashes resumed shortly after 10 p.m. near parliament as protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks and police responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades. The Interior Ministry said witnesses heard shots and saw two people running away before the policeman’s body was discovered.

Building Seizures

While this week’s escalation in the protest movement occurred in Kiev, the focus has now switched to the regions as buildings of governors picked by Yanukovych were taken over by activists in the western cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi.

Pipelines, pipelines, pipelines...

Activists also targeted administrative offices in at least five more of the nation’s 24 regions, smashing their way in when police offered resistance, Ukrainian 5 TV reported. Police detained 58 protesters in the Cherkasy region for attempting a takeover, the Interior Ministry said.

Even so, the president ceded some ground, promising a cabinet shuffle and changes to the anti-rally bill at an emergency parliament session called for Jan. 28. Klitschko told reporters later that protesters won’t be satisfied until the president resigns.

Parliament will also consider a no-confidence motion against the government next week, Svoboda party head Oleh Tyahnybok said Jan. 23 after hours of talks with Yanukovych. Crowds on Independence Square raged at the lack of concessions won by opposition politicians, whistling as Tyahnybok spoke.

As part of a deal struck two days ago, three of the 103 activists who’ve been detained were freed yesterday morning. It’s unclear when crisis negotiations will resume, Natalia Lysova, spokeswoman for jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s party, said yesterday by phone.

“I don’t see talks leading to anything -- it’s been tried so many times,” said Ivan, a 20-year-old in an army helmet who’s been at Independence Square for a month and who declined to give his last name. “We’ll achieve something once the president resigns.”

Ministry Occupied

Demonstrators seized the Agriculture Ministry building near their tent camp yesterday to shelter from temperatures of minus 18 degrees Celsius (zero Fahrenheit) and set up a first-aid point, Interfax reported.

"The acquisition of 5% of Ukrlandfarming intensifies Cargill's presence on the agricultural market, one of the most promising in the world," reads the report.

The transaction puts a value of $4 billion on UkrLandFarming, the world’s eighth-largest land cultivator and second biggest egg producer through its 77 percent ownership in London-listed Avangardco.

The conglomerate was founded and built up in recent years through acquisitions by Oleg Bakhmatyuk, a Ukrainian billionaire.( Billionaire or Oligarch)

Oleg Bakhmatyuk

“The transaction will help Cargill secure long-term supplies from one of Ukraine’s largest farmers, and gives UkrLandFarming a very strong strategic partner that will help them achieve their goals of broadening exports, especially in Asia”

According to the publication, it is expected that the deal will allow Ukrlandfarming to expand grain exports, in particular, to Asia. In the 2013/2014 marketing year (MY, July - June) the agroholding plans to export up to 700 million tonnes of corn to China. Within five years, according to holding owner Oleh Bakhmatiuk, the total export figure should reach 6 million tonnes per MY, one-third of which will account for the Asian market.

The edition noted that China more often refuses imports of GM maize from the United States in favor of organic products from Ukraine.

China refuses imports of Genetically Modified Monstrosities from the US, therefore, Cargill.
And Cargill buys a 5 percent holding in a company that ships non-gmo to China?

First deliveries of corn from Ukraine to China were made late last year under the loan agreement of $3 billion.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

In the summertime, people flock to Montreux, Switzerland, to follow the jazz festival. This week, though, the ‘performance’ is by a positively un-swinging lot, part of the (in theory) very serious Geneva 2 conference on Syria.

What is Geneva 2 for? It has nothing to do with ‘peace’.It won’t yield an international deal to end the Syrian tragedy. The horrible war facts on the ground will remain facts, and horrible; many perpetrators won’t be gathering in Montreux. Syrian civil society has not even been invited.

And then the whole charade degenerated into pitiful parody even before it started.

This past Sunday, it seemed that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had decided to spring out of his trademark vegetable slumber, inviting Iran to Geneva 2. The invitation lasted less than 24 hours; after the requisite ‘pressure’ by Washington – instigated by those sterling democrats of the House of Saud – it was duly rescinded.

Iran out and Ban Ki invites Alf and Mork from Ork. Well not really, but, he may as well have.

Ban Ki-moon also invited the Holy See, as well as Australia, Luxembourg, Mexico and the Republic of Korea, among others, to Montreux; as if these actors had any clue about what’s going on in Syria.

Yup, Luxembourg, Mexico and Korea.

But the apex of the farce is that Iran cannot go, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar – who continue to weaponize every Syrian ‘rebel’ in sight, from young adrenaline seekers to Western-supported Takfiris and beheaders – can. And will.

Meet ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Al-Qaeda - A theme regular readers here are totally aware is complete and utter rubbish. There are no good or bad hired killers. There are just hired killers.

FSA brand hired killer

Time to break it down. Washington ruled that Iran cannot be in Montreux because it supports Assad. It’s as simple as that.

Washington dictating to the UN is the norm. Washington dictating to the Syrian exiled ‘opposition’ is also the norm. Everyone is a puppet in this lethal comedy.

As for Western spin doctors, they are dizzier than flies over corpses. As part of the new Western myth that the Saudi Arabia-sponsored Islamic Front – formed last September against the US-backed Supreme Military Council – are nothing but ‘good Al-Qaeda’, now we have top ‘rebels’ routinely acknowledging to Western corporate media they are, well, Al-Qaeda.

Tens of thousands of foreign jihadis using Al-Qaeda’s network of safe houses in Turkey – well, that’s not such a big deal. As the narrative goes, ‘our new friends’ in the Islamic Front are just ‘conservative Salafi Muslims’. What if they are fond of the odd torture binge and will think nothing of slaying the odd Shiite or Christian? Not such a big deal.

As for the ‘bad' Al-Qaeda gang – from Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – they are on a roll. After all, they are the ones with fighting experience/leverage on the ground. And when push comes to shove, they just run yet another ring around clueless Western necks.( I disagree with "clueless")

Take Ahrar al-Sham. They now lead the Islamic Front – and talk to the Americans. (Please refresh your memory at the relinked post. ) And guess what; they’re going to Montreux!The icing on this Takfiri cake is that, ultimately, their “interests” are being defended by no less than US Secretary of State John Kerry. Washington promoting al-Qaeda? Well, we’ve seen that movie before.

Second in line- Play the girl power card and score political points- Meaningless, empty but sadly too many of my cohort eat that up- My cohort being women.

CFR Mouthpiece - Mouthpiece from the CFR basically tells us nothing will come from Geneva II, which is correct, because bottom line that is the desired outcome. For the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey etc. The war mongers. This can go on and on and on.... because, really it is just ordinary Syrians that are being harmed. Patrick from the CFR is so unconcerned with ordinary Syrians he doesn't even mention them. The only hope is a decisive victory on the battlefield on one side. Here is hoping it is not NATO.

“In sum, the most likely diplomatic outcomes of this long awaited “peace conference” are likely to be pretty thin gruel. Even with the Iranian spoilers relegated to the sidelines, “Geneva II” is unlikely to see any major breakthroughs.At best, the summit will mark another phase in a protracted negotiating process that may continue for years, unless circumstances on the battlefield result in a clear victory for one side”

Battlefield victory aside talking head suggests that Kerry play the woman in power card, for maximum PR effect.

“The United States can make a meaningful difference in negotiations between the two sides. This would be to insist on the inclusion of significant numbers of women in both sides’ delegations”

Because " peace is too precious to leave to the men with guns"

Yup, girl power

Absurd. This 'girl power' is as meaningful as Lady Gaga’s bullying campaign. It sounds nice. It gives some people the warm and fuzzies. But what real difference does it make? None. It’s PR. It’s empty. But, it is a dam perfect button to push. Women vs Men. Women as peacemakers.

Continuing it’s western lackey role by inviting the NATO approved opposition to talks in Cairo. Not that this is anything new for Egypt. Mr Morsi played the same game. He hosted the NATO opposition in Cairo, also. Aaah.........The more things ‘change’ the more they are exactly the same

Think about this?

War is .....

WAR IS THE CONTINUATION OF STATE POLICY, BY OTHER MEANS

WAR IS A POLITICAL ACTIVITY IN WHICH VIOLENCE IS USED TO BEND THE WILL OF YOUR ENEMY TO THAT OF YOUR OWN

Stop being Manipulated by the Elites

For if you [the rulers] suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves [outlaws] and then punish them.´ - Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Resource: Ukraine Military Marker

How your brain works

“‘Each thought and behavior is embedded within the circuitry of the neurons, and…neuronal activity accompanying or initiating an experience persists in the form of reverberating neuronal circuits, which become more strongly defined with repetition”

Richard Restak

Unshackle YOUR mind

'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed'- Steve Biko

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Edward Bernays: Perception Management it is a Reality

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,"

"Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. . . . In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

About Me

This blog is a place to not only post information that will never see the light of day on the mainstream media, but, also to present alternative perspectives to main stream media information, that most often presents no background, no context, and never questions the information presented.
The name I chose, Penny for your thoughts, is an invitation to readers to share their relevant thoughts on the varying information.